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Clipperton Island (A better world TL)
The territory Clipperton Island (French: Île de Clipperton or French: Île de la Passion; Spanish: Isla de la Pasión) is an uninhabited 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America. It located 10,677 kilometres away from Paris, 5,400 km from Papeete, and 1,081 km from Mexico. It is an overseas minor territory of France, under direct authority of the Minister of Overseas France. Clipperton has a ring-shaped atoll which completely encloses a stagnant freshwater lagoon, and is 12 km (7.5 mi) in circumference. The lagoon is devoid of fish, and contains some deep basins with depths of 43 and 72 m (141 and 236 ft), including a spot known as Trou-Sans-Fond, or "the bottomless hole", with acidic water at its base. The water is described as being almost fresh at the surface, and highly eutrophic. Seaweed beds cover approximately 45 percent of the lagoon's surface. The rim averages 150 m (490 ft) in width, reaching 400 m (1,300 ft) in the west and narrows to 45 m (148 ft) in the north-east, where sea waves occasionally spill over into the lagoon. While some sources have rated the lagoon water as non-potable, testimony from the crew of the tuna clipper M/V Monarch, stranded for 23 days in 1962 after their boat sank, just before the first French atomic test, indicates otherwise. Their report reveals that the lagoon water, while not tasting very good, was drinkable, though "muddy and dirty". Several of the castaways drank it, with no apparent ill effects. Survivors of an ill-fated Mexican military colony in 1917 indicated that they were dependent upon rain for their water supply, catching it in old boats they used for this purpose. Aside from the lagoon and water caught from rain, no other freshwater sources are known to exist. It has a tropical oceanic climate, with average temperatures of 20–32 °C (68–90 °F). The rainy season occurs from May to October, when it is subject to tropical storms and hurricanes. Surrounding ocean waters are warm, pushed by equatorial and counter-equatorial currents. It has no known natural resources (its guano having been depleted early in the 20th century). Although 115 species of fish have been identified in nearby waters the only economic activity in the area is tuna fishing. Stats The sandy atoll is 1,080 km (671 mi) south-west of Mexico, 2,424 km (1,506 mi) west of Nicaragua, 2,545 km (1,581 mi) west of Costa Rica and 2,260 km (1,404 mi) north-west of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, at 10°18′N 109°13′W. Clipperton is about 945 km (587 mi; 510 nmi) south-east of Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Archipelago, which is the nearest land. It is a French colony. History The island was discovered on Good Friday, 3 April 1711 by Frenchmen Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage, commanding the French ships La Princesse and La Découverte. It was given the name Île de la Passion (English: Passion Island). They drew up the first map and claimed the island for France. The first scientific expedition took place in 1725 under Frenchman M. Bocage, who lived on the island for several months. In 1858, France formally laid claim. The current name comes from John Clipperton, an English pirate and privateer who fought the Spanish during the early 18th century, and who is said to have passed by the island. Some sources say he used it as a base for his raids on shipping, but there is no documentary evidence. Other claimants included the United States, whose American Guano Mining Company claimed it under the Guano Islands Act of 1856; Mexico also claimed it due to activities undertaken there as early as 1848–1849. On 17 November 1858 Emperor Napoleon III annexed it as part of the French colony of Tahiti. This did not settle the ownership question. On 24 November 1897, French naval authorities found three Americans working for the American Guano Company, who had raised the American flag. U.S. authorities denounced their act, assuring the French that they did not intend to assert American sovereignty. Mexico reasserted its claim late in the 19th century, and on 13 December 1897 sent the gunboat La Demócrata to occupy and annex it. A colony was established, and a series of military governors was posted, the last one being Ramón Arnaud (1906–1916). France insisted on its ownership, and a lengthy diplomatic correspondence between the two nations led to the conclusion of a treaty on March 2, 1909, to seek the arbitration of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, with each nation promising to abide by his determination. His decision was not rendered until 1931. The British Pacific Island Company acquired the rights to guano deposits in 1906 and built a mining settlement in conjunction with the Mexican government. That same year, a lighthouse was erected under the orders of President Porfirio Díaz. By 1914 around 100 people—men, women, and children—were living there, resupplied every two months by a ship from Acapulco. With the escalation of fighting in the Mexican Revolution, the regular resupply visits ceased and the inhabitants were left to their own devices. By 1917 all but one of the male inhabitants had died. Many had perished from scurvy, while others (including Captain Arnaud) died during an attempt to sail after a passing ship to fetch help. Lighthouse keeper Victoriano Álvarez was the last man on the island, together with 15 women and children. Álvarez proclaimed himself "king" and began an orgy of rape and murder, before being killed by Tirza Rendon, who was the recipient of his unwanted attention. Almost immediately after Álvarez's death four women and seven children, the last survivors, were picked up by the US Navy gunship Yorktown on 18 July 1917. No more attempts were made to colonize it, though it was briefly occupied during the 1930s and 1940s. The story of the Mexican colony has been the subject of several novels, including Ivo Mansmann's Clipperton, Schicksale auf einer vergessenen Insel ("Clipperton, Destinies on a Forgotten Island") in German, Colombian writer Laura Restrepo's La Isla de la Pasión ("Passion Island") in Spanish, and Ana Garcia Bergua's Isla de Bobos ("Island of Fools"), also in Spanish. Mexico and France signed a compromise in 1909, agreeing to submit the dispute over sovereignty over Clipperton Island to binding international arbitration by King Victor Emanuel of Italy. In 1931 Victor Emanuel issued his arbitral decision in the Clipperton Island Case, declaring Clipperton to be a French possession. The French rebuilt the lighthouse and settled a military outpost, which remained for seven years before being abandoned. The island was abandoned by the end of World War II after being briefly occupied by the US from 1944–45. Since then it has been visited by sport fishermen, patrols of the French Navy, and by Mexican tuna and shark fishermen. There have been infrequent scientific and amateur radio expeditions, and in 1978 Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited with his team of divers and a survivor from the 1917 evacuation to film a television special called Clipperton: The Island that Time Forgot. It was visited by ornithologist Ken Stager of the Los Angeles County Museum in 1958. Appalled at the depredations visited by feral pigs upon the island's brown booby and masked booby colonies (reduced to 500 and 150 birds, respectively), Stager procured a shotgun and killed all 58 pigs. When the independence of Algeria in 1962 threatened French nuclear testing sites in the African nation, the French Ministry of Defence chose Clipperton Island as a possible replacement. This was eventually ended in 1978 due to the hostile climate and overly remote location. France had evacuated a large part of the wild life to Tahiti between 1962 and 1992 to evade being nuked. By 2003, the booby colonies had 25,000 brown boobies and 112,000 masked boobies, the world's second-largest brown booby colony and its largest masked booby colony. Some of the Boobys aere mutents with bent tails and beeks. During the night of 10 February 2010, the Sichem Osprey, a Maltese chemical tanker, ran aground on its way from the Panama Canal to South Korea. The 170-metre (560 ft) ship contained xylene, a clear, flammable volatile liquid. All 19 crew members were reported safe, and the vessel reported no leaks. The vessel was refloated on March 6 and returned to service. Research It was visited by ornithologist Ken Stager of the Los Angeles County Museum in 1958. Appalled at the depredations visited by feral pigs upon the island's brown booby and masked booby colonies (reduced to 500 and 150 birds, respectively), Stager procured a shotgun and killed all 58 pigs. France had evacuated a large part of the wild life to Tahiti between 1962 and 1992 to evade being nuked. By 2003, the booby colonies had 25,000 brown boobies and 112,000 masked boobies, the world's second-largest brown booby colony and its largest masked booby colony. Some of the Boobys aere mutents with bent tails and beeks. An automatic weather installation was completed on 7 April 1980, with data collected by this station being transmitted by satellite to Brittany weather relay stations. A 2005 report by the NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California, USA indicates that the increased rat presence has led to a decline in both crab and bird populations, causing a corresponding increase in both vegetation and coconut palms. This report urgently recommended eradication of rats so that vegetation might be reduced and the island might return to its "pre-human" state other than the obvious long term radiation issue. In mid-March 2012, the crew from The Clipperton Project noted the widespread presence of refuse, particularly on the northeast shore and around the Rock. Debris including plastic bottles and containers create a potentially harmful environment to its flora and fauna. This trash is common to only two beaches (North East and South West) and the rest of the island is fairly clean. Other refuse has been left over after the occupation by the Americans in 1944–45, the French in 1966–69 and the 2008 scientific expedition. Possible economic future The French explored reopening the lagoon and developing a harbour for trade and tourism during the late 1980s but this idea was abandoned due to the still high radiations and very remote location. Radiation levels had dropped considerably by 2002, but were still dangerously high. Taking into account the economic constraints, the distance from markets, and the small size of the atoll, nothing apart from preliminary studies were undertaken. All plans for development were abandoned in 2008. Ownership It is part of France. Fish and wildlife When Snodgrass and Heller visited in 1898, they reported that "no land plant is native to the island". Historical accounts from 1711, 1825 and 1839 show a low grassy or suffrutescent (partially woody) flora. During Sachet's visit in 1958, the vegetation was found to consist of a sparse cover of spiny grass and low thickets, a creeping plant (Ipomoea sp.), and stands of coconut palm. This low-lying herbaceous flora seems to be pioneer in nature, and most of it is believed to be composed of recently introduced species. Sachet suspected that Heliotropium curassavicum and possibly Portulaca oleracea were native. Coconut palms and pigs were introduced in the 1890s by guano miners. The pigs reduced the crab population, which in turn allowed grassland to gradually cover about 80 percent of the land surface. The elimination of these pigs in 1958 — the result of a personal project by Kenneth E. Stager — has caused most of this vegetation to disappear as millions of land crabs (Johngarthia planata) have returned. The result is virtually a sandy desert, with only 674 palms counted by Christian Jost during the "Passion 2001" French mission, and five islets in the lagoon with grass that the terrestrial crabs cannot reach. France had evacuated a large part of the wild life to Tahiti between 1962 and 1992 to evade being nuked. By 2003, the booby colonies had 25,000 brown boobies and 112,000 masked boobies, the world's second-largest brown booby colony and its largest masked booby colony. Some of the Boobys aere mutents with bent tails and beeks. On the north-west side the most abundant plant species are Cenchrus echinatus, Sida rhombifolia, and Corchorus aestuans. These plants compose a shrub cover up to 30 cm in height and are intermixed with Eclipta, Phyllanthus, and Solanum, as well as a taller plant, Brassica juncea. A unique feature is that the vegetation is arranged in parallel rows of species, with dense rows of taller species alternating with lower, more open vegetation. This was assumed to be a result of the phosphate mining method of trench-digging. The only land animals known to exist are two species of reptiles (Gehyra insulensis, a gecko, and Emoia cyanura, a skink), bright-orange land crabs (Johngarthia planata, sometimes known as the 'Clipperton Crab', although it is also found on other islands in the eastern Pacific), birds, and rats, the rats probably arriving from large fishing boats that were wrecked on the island in 1999 and 2000. Bird species include white terns, masked boobies, sooty terns, brown boobies, brown noddies, black noddies, great frigatebirds, coots, martins (swallows), cuckoos and yellow warblers. Ducks have been reported in the lagoon. The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of the large breeding colony of masked boobies, with 110,000 individual birds recorded. The lagoon harbours millions of isopods, which swimmers say can deliver a painful sting. A 2005 report by the NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California, USA indicates that the increased rat presence has led to a decline in both crab and bird populations, causing a corresponding increase in both vegetation and coconut palms. This report urgently recommended eradication of rats so that vegetation might be reduced and the island might return to its "pre-human" state other than the obvious long term radiation issue. Category:France Category:Clipperton Island Category:Ish Category:Islands